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Muscogee County School District superintendent David Lewis honored the school board during Monday night's meeting as part of School Board Appreciation Week in Georgia.

The response from board chairman Rob Varner of District 5 was inspirational:

"I won't pretend to speak for all the board members, but, for myself and I know for many others, it is a labor of love. Sometimes labor has the accent on it more than the word love does. People ask me all the time, 'Why in the world do you do that? They're looking at me, in all seriousness. 'Why in the world do you serve on the board of education?'

"And I say, you know, there are challenges like any job out there, but, at the end of the day, it truly is an enjoyable thing to be so involved in such a critically important element of not only this community but our state and our entire society. We are the cornerstone of our society. And they say it all the time, when public education goes away, the society goes away. I believe that earnestly, and I think every member up here believes that. I thank you, those of you who do support us, and those who challenge us, I thank you, because it's helpful for us to hear criticism and it's helpful for us to hear compliments."

It looks to offer a heaping helping of politics -- flavored conservative, of course -- mixed with a cocktail of economic insight when Steve Forbes appears at Auburn University Friday night.

The one-time Republican presidential wannabe, who ran and lost in the 1996 and 2000 primaries, will be the entree for a VIP dinner preceding a keynote address at Auburn Arena.

"An Evening with Steve Forbes," which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. just after the dinner, is being hosted by the groups Auburn Conservatives for Tomorrow and Young America's Foundation.

Politics aside, Forbes is chairman and editor-in-chief for Forbes Media, which publishes Forbes magazine and is the company now up for sale to the highest bidder. The media outfit reportedly could fetch $250 million or more.

That said, "bon appétit" to the eventual buyer, and those taking in Forbes' prose at Auburn Friday evening.